


falling down

by the_forgotten_daydreamer



Series: Voltron: Legendary Defender [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Concussed Lance, Concussions, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Happy Ending, Head trauma, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Injured Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Lance Gets a Concussion, Lance passed out, Lance passes out, Lance whump, Langst, Passed out Lance, Whump, Worried Keith (Voltron), lance is out of it, minor head trauma, worried team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-24 08:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20702591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_forgotten_daydreamer/pseuds/the_forgotten_daydreamer
Summary: Lance is badly concussed, and luckily the team is there for him.-fixed on 1/03/2020





	falling down

**Author's Note:**

> (I DO NOT OWN VLD NOR ITS CHARACTERS)
> 
> I fixed a thing I have posted on tumblr some months ago.  
Please, enjoy!

Lance can vaguely hear distant voices, but he can’t quite figure out what they are saying. Everything is too fuzzy and confused, sounding like he's underwater, deep down in the ocean, every noise muffled and far, far away. He can't understand anything, but he's almost sure that he hears his name at one point.

Why would someone call him? It's all dark and quiet around him, and that means it must be night time, right?

He hears his name called again, but ignores it. Whatever it is, it can wait, he thinks. Honestly, he just wants to sleep.

Lance's eyelids are forcefully forced open by two gloved fingers, and a bright- _oh too bright_\- light is shone into his dazed eyes.

“Hey Lance, can you hear us?” someone- _Shiro, maybe? - s_ays urgently, worry evident in his tone, “He's unresponsive," he comments, swallowing, "and he’s so pale and cold. Shit, this can’t be good. Keith, was he like this before as well?”.

Lance can't see it, but the Red Paladin nods, eyes open wide in shock and fear.

Only when it's removed, the Blue Paladin notices a bare hand that was previously on his forehead.

“Yeah, it’s worse than we thought... He- he lost a lot of blood”- _Pidge? Is that you..? _"but he can totally move his limbs and all, so we can exclude any spinal damage, at least" they note, and everybody sigh in relief.

Lance, however, worries more: why are his friends talking about that? Why does his head hurt so much? What's going on-?

The anxiety that is already making him feel drained only aggravates his strong headache, and in a moment of panic, bile rises up his tight throat; the Blue Paladin gags, and he’s soon turned on his side by skilled hands, thankfully.

“Shit!” a terrified voice screams- too loudly for Lance’s liking. He knows this voice, he recognizes it; _Hunk_.

Lance frowns- regretting the action as his head throbs once again, and he briefly wonders what's going on.

He discloses his heavy eyelids for two seconds at most, blinking and giving up after one try.

Too many colours, too bright, too many people moving.

It's just _too much!_

His pained wimpers are interrupts when someone turns him on his back again, and slaps him not too gently.

“Open your eyes, Lance," _Keith..?,_ "hey Lance, stay awake"

_Why won’t you let me sleep?_

"What?" Hunk asks, hurriedly, and Lance realises he must have said that out loud. He doesn't care, though.

Another slap prevents him from slipping away, again.

“Lance, come on!”

"Keith, stop with that" Shiro instructs somewhere behind him, earning a grunt from the Red Paladin.

Lance groans quietly, and opens his clouded, deep blue eyes, gingerly, and this time he actually manages to focus on Keith whose head’s above him.

“Shit, his pupils are huge... We- we gotta do something” the Red Paladin comments, uncharacteristically nervous.

Lance grins, unnoticed.

"Yeah, it's really bad," Pidge adds, caressing Lance's padded shoulder after fixing the make-shift bandage on his injured head, blood soaking through it already. "Crap, the bleeding won't stop. He- he'll definitely need stitches" Hunk comments, fretting.

_Mh, sleep sounds good…_

He receives another slap.

“Hey, you know you can’t sleep with a concussion!” Keith says, upset and worried.

“S'rry” Lance answers, speaking for the first time in an almost cognizant way, “didn’t kno' I had... I had a...”.

He never finishes the sentence as he trails off, quickly unconscious.

Allura arrives an instant later, warning the others that the extraction pod is ready and that they can go back to the Castle now.

Hunk and Coran manage to haul the Blue Paladin up to his feet, causing his stomach to twist subconsciously, any balance lost.

Lance’s knees buckle under the weight and for the tiredness, not allowing him to stand in an upright position.

“Come on, buddy, you can do this” Hunk says, trying to cheer Lance up. But he only receives a distraught grunt as answer.

The young paladin shifts uncomfortably, groaning as he tries to stand alone, and his friends don’t let go: as he’s about to protest- or try to do so- Lance’s vision starts to darken.

“Guys..? ’m not f'ling too well…” he mumbles- his voice’s barely a whisper- and proceeds to inhale sharply, as talking causes his head to spin faster than it already does.

Lance makes a muffled cry- _it hurts so bad!- _and lets himself sink toward the metal floor- mainly because Hunk and Coran are still holding him, and he knows that they won’t let him fall.

His head falls back and his tired eyes roll in his skull. It’s light-out.

-

Next thing he knows, he’s walking.

Sort of.

More like, being dragged forcefully, sending spikes of pain to his back and shoulders, and making him dizzy and nauseous.

“Ha! Guys, Lance's coming to!” Coran shouts in his ear, “My boy, Lance, can your hear me?”

Lance tries to answer that yes, he can in fact hear Coran, but his reply comes out more like an incoherent mumble.

Coran seems to understand, somehow, "Good!” he chirps out, “but you need to stay awake for a bit longer, alright? We're already in the Castle, the team managed to take you back but...” 

Coran keeps talking softly, pitying the poor Cuban boy that's looking greener than ever. The rest of his speech reaches deaf ears, as Lance is out, once again.

-

He’s laying on something soft, and he feels warmth under his body. He feels like he's floating on a cloud, so light and carefree...

The smell of antiseptic makes Lance cringe and come back to reality once he's enough cognizant, but still he’s thankful as he feels no pain, or at least, not much pain compared to what he was feeling before. He also feels something around his head, realizing that it's probably a thick bandage.

A tiny hand shakes him, gently.

“Guys, I think Lance’s conscious again!” Pidge announces, not too loudly.

“Hey Lance? Are you with us?” Allura asks, concern evident in her accented voice as she places her hand on the boy's messy hair, caressing it.

“Wh’t ‘pp'n’d…” Lance slurs, without opening his eyes more than necessary to see the silhouettes of his friends.

“Why is his speech still so uncoordinated? Is he still as badly hurt as before?” Allura asks, clinging to the hospital bed’s sheets.

“Don't worry,” Pidge replies, chuckling, “Coran and I have him on some heavy painkillers, so that's probably it” they say, pointing at the IV connected to the Blue Paladin’s arm; inserted in the other one, there's a thin tube, and Lance takes more to realise that it's not the IV itself to be crimson, but the blood flowing in it and into his tired body.

"Who..?" and just that word is enough to exhaust him further.

"Keith," Hunk cuts in, smiling, "he's a universal donor, and so he-"

"Why?"

_Why what, though? Why were they so concerned in helping me? Why is Keith, of all people, helping me so gladly? What will he want as a payback? I bet he'll never let me live peacefully after this-_

"Kiddo, are you listening? Lance?" Shiro says, making him snap out of it.

He blinks again, putting the pieces together.

"...No, s'rry" he finally mutters, distraught.

The man's expression softens, "Hey, it's fine. We were just saying that-"

"What happ'ned?" Lance interrupts, looking at Keith, who is the only one sitting in a chair with a blanket draped over his shoulders, an empty juice-box in his hands, one of which is wrapped in a bandage, _they probably took the blood from there, _Lance decides.

“W-why are you looking at me?” the Red Paladin says, grunting and seeming slighlty annoyed. Truth is, he's just tired from the donation, sugars from the juice yet to kick in.

“You were the one who found him, so…” Coran says tentatively, gesturing for Keith to speak up.

Keith snorts and turns to Lance “Fine," he exhales, "you were busy protecting us from above that you didn’t see one of the bots sneaking behind you. I yelled at you to be careful and you noticed the bad guy," he paused, "then, you got into a hand-to-hand fight with it, got pushed over the roof you were on and hit your head after a nasty fall," he finishes, tightening his fists, "And all I could so was watch. I... I couldn't make it in time to catch you... Sorry for not helping you sooner" he mutters, almost inaudible.

His friends all look at him, distraught and sympathizing him, sharing Keith's sentiment.

"Yeah," Pidge agrees, "you always look over us but we should do the same for you, Lance. Sorry, we'll find a better strategy" they finish with a quick smile.

The rest of the team nods in agreement, seeming nervous and mortified.

But to Lance, concussed and drugged up, expressions are all the same, so blurred and indistinguishable. 

He just stares at them with his wide, blue eyes, and tears well up in them.

Keith looks at Pidge, worried a bit as he tries to lean forward and out of the chair, “Is- is he okay? Lance, you okay there-?”

"Don't strain yourself, Keith" Allura instructs gently, placing a hand on his shoulder to let him stay put, and looking at Lance for a reply.

It doesn't come, and Hunk urgently snaps his fingers before Lance's dazed expression, waking him from the stupor. The Cuban boy blinks hazily, looking at his hands, folded on his lap,

“I'm- I'm fine..,” Lance whispers, still shaken, “I j'st… I’m sorry, th’s all my fault you’re so stress’d out. Y' don't hafta change the tactics and worry for me and-” he sobs, "guys, 'm so sorry..."

Everybody freezes at that statement.

“Lance” Shiro speaks first “we are not stressed out because of that. We’re upset with ourselves because you got hurt, and we didn't do anything to prevent it. We care and worry about you, Lance, because you are…” he smiles “you are family to us”.

-

Lance blames the concussion for the tears, and pretends that he doesn’t see the others sniffling too.

He’s home, and that's what counts.

**Author's Note:**

> DON'T READ AND RUN!  
Kudos and constructive criticism are always happily accepted :) please!


End file.
